Lighthouse
by RJ Lewis the III
Summary: No hero was born out of happiness. Every man has an hour of need and an hour of darkness. Not always does the light shine through. Reid/OC -DISCONTINUED-
1. Chapter 1

**So, both Madi and I lied. This story wasn't even supposed to be started until late August, possibly into early September. And yet, voila, chapter one of Lighthouse.**

**We sat down tonight, both on our respective computers, and got this thing out and edited in less than three hours. This is pretty much a record for us, considering that Madi was a huge-ass distraction with her ramblings about her amazing summer and whatnot while I had TK and Summer going on about their day, and all through this I managed to write nearly 3K for our opening chapter. Pretty damned nifty, if I do say so myself.**

**Remember that we both love reviews, they're what keep us wanting to write and edit more, even faster. ;) We don't own anything, except for things you don't recognize from the movies. In that case, we do own them and they belong to our sweet little overactive brains. Enough with the ramblings!**

**Enjoy! – Madi and Rory**

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_**Lighthouse**_

_**one**_

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The back door to Nicky's slammed shut with a bang as Reid threw himself out of it. His heavy breathing frosted before him as he restrained himself from breaking every bottle in the alley. It wouldn't take much, just a switch of eye color and a flick of his wrist and everything would be in pieces. He could do it, no problem. Hell, he wanted more than anything to go psycho on everything around him, but he knew the second he used, Caleb would be out to kick his ass. Again.

Besides, one speech from the parentals was enough for one night. He didn't need Caleb all over his ass for using. He'd gotten more than enough of that earlier.

With an aggravated sigh, Reid kicked the closet thing to him. The empty crate went flying across the alley from him and came to a skidding halt against the wall. He hated this, knowing that everyone inside the bar was having a good time while he was rejected and throwing a tantrum like a four year old. He hated it, with a passion. He knew that inside Caleb would be dancing it up with Sarah, Pogue and Kate would be a corner doing their thing, and Tyler would be flirting with the new, shy looking waitress. It was the cycle of the sons, the same thing every damned night.

Normally, he'd have no problem messing with the hot waitress, Cary, or beating Aaron out of a few hundred at the tables. On any other night, Reid would be in the thick of things causing hell and having a blast doing it. But tonight was her anniversary, and he hated how no one else seemed to remember. Could they really not remember her? Could they not remember how she'd been taken from them too soon, how one day she'd been right there with him, taking Aaron's money and laughing at his sorry ass, and then the next, she was gone. Just like that, she'd been ripped away from them for good, and none of them had been able to do a damn thing about it.

Did they really not remember her?

He remembered her, perfectly. He could see her face, laughing at him as she blew out her fourteen candles on her birthday. The last birthday she'd ever have the happiness to celebrate. He could see her blue eyes sparkle at the sight of her new shiny red iPod, a gift from him, the last gift he'd be able to give her. By memory he could count the number of freckles on her pale face, twenty-three to be exact. He could see her, just as she had been right before she'd left him. Her face had been pale and he could see in her eyes how scared she'd been, how much she didn't want to leave. How scared she was to die.

She was fourteen, she wasn't supposed to die. Kids that young, they don't deserve to go.

But he couldn't do anything to save her. At the young age of sixteen, he'd had to watch his baby sister die before his eyes. He'd had to sit by her side in the hospital, watching helplessly as she slowly faded away from him into the dark abyss that had claimed her in the end. In the end, Reid had been able to do absolutely nothing to ease her pain, to make her unafraid, to save her. When Jack died, a part of Reid went with her. Along with the her death came his obsession with the Power.

He didn't understand how his family and friends could sit by and watch Jack die while they held such great power that could have saved her. What good was having such a powerful gift if they weren't willing to put it towards something worth while, like that of saving a life? What better way was there to waste a few measly months of their life as a result, than to save his baby sister? There wasn't one, Reid had tried everything.

Letting out another sigh, he dropped to sit on an overturned milk crate and dug into his pocket. He fingered the pack for a moment before withdrawing it and tugged a stick out with his mouth. He stuffed the beaten pack back into his lint filled hoodie pocket, and traded it for his Zippo. If Caleb wasn't inside a few hundred feet away, Reid wouldn't have bothered with the lighter. Lighting up, he took a long drag and leaned his head against the brick wall behind him, breathing out.

He couldn't believe they didn't remember. Hell, he hated them for forgetting her. But he didn't care so long as he never did. He couldn't forget her, because once he did, his last strand of humanity, the only thing that kept him from blowing himself apart on a Power overdose, was connected with her face flashing through his mind. He couldn't save her, but he sure as hell wasn't about to let her down.

Closing his eyes, he took another drag of his cig and listened to the music pounding through the door.

"Those can kill you, you know."

The voice startled Reid out of his thoughts and his eyes flew open. Standing a few feet away from him was a young girl, she couldn't be older than fifteen. He frowned at her, taking in her matted auburn hair, dirty face, and torn jeans. She didn't look like someone who would be hanging around a Spencer hotspot. In fact, Reid was sure he'd never seen the girl around before, even in town.

Her hand was pointed to the cigarette in his dangling fingers as she looked at him blankly. "They cause cancer," she muttered softly, eyeballing the smoking stick like it would come out and bite her.

Reid scoffed at her, taking another slow drag and blowing the smoke in the girl's direction. "And your point being?" He really didn't care that much, not tonight. Not when her face was so fresh in his mind, taunting him with images he'd rather forget.

She shrugged and turned to look at the empty parking lot of Nicky's in what Reid could name as fear. He frowned again, not understanding at all but not really caring. He really wanted to girl to hit the road and leave him in peace with his memories. This was _her_ night, not this random chick's.

The girl faced Reid with empty eyes as she started backing slowly away. "What's the point of killing yourself? She's not waiting for you anymore, Reid."

Her tone wasn't harsh or cold, but instead seemed to be stating a fact. It was almost gentle, like she was trying to break the news with as little pain as possible. She didn't mean to inflict hurt upon him, in any way. She just wanted to show him before it was too late. His time was running out. Any moment now, if they hadn't already, they would notice her missing and come for her. It wouldn't take long for them to find her, not with _him_ to help them. She had to warn Reid, and then get as far away from his as she possibly could. She had to buy him time.

Reid dropped his cig to the ground, stepping on it as he took a step towards the retreating girl. "What the hell did you just say?" He knew, deep down, exactly what she had said and what she had meant. The why behind it though had him confused. Who was this girl?

"I have to go," the girl stated, shaking her matted head as she continued backing away from him. An apologetic grimace was set on her face as she walked even further away from the confused Son. She paused for a moment, staring at him hard. "You won't have much time before they come," she warned. "When they do, _do not _fight them. They'll overpower you and in the end, all you'll do is get yourself hurt. Don't show them what you can do, ever. It doesn't matter what they threaten you with, do not show them your power. Once they know what you can do, they know how to kill you. Do not show them your power!"

Reid stood in shock as the girl fiercely warned him, against who he didn't know. He stood rooted to the spot in the dark alley, watching as the girl turned and fled. After a few moments of watching her go, he took off after her.

"Wait!" he yelled, sprinting after the mysterious girl as she weaved between the parked cars of Spencerites. She just ignored him and if it were possible, sped up even more. Reid let out a string of curses and flew after her. "For fuck's sake, I just wanna talk!"

Ella didn't stop running as she heard the boy follow behind her, the last thing she wanted him to do. By this time, they had to know she was gone and _he_ would be hot on her trail, if not closing in on her at this very moment. She would not allow Reid to be caught along with her, not when she had escaped to warn him. "Stop following me!" she shouted, not turning around or decreasing in her speed any. She heard him swear again and continued sprinting down the dark road before taking a hard right into the dense forest, hoping maybe there she would be able to lose him.

Sadly, her powers did not include the ability to see in the dark and she soon found herself on the ground, mouth full of mud. _SHIT._ She managed to throw herself back into a standing position just in time for Reid to come barreling into her, tackling her to the hard ground again. She made a failed attempt to fight her way out of his grasp, but soon found he overpowered her easily. He flipped her on to her back roughly and pinned her arms above her head just as a stick cracked softly somewhere to the left of them. Ella heard it, clear as day but Reid apparently heard it over his loud yelling.

"Who the fuck are you!" he shouted, his face only a few inches away from Ella's own frightened one. Her green eyes were wide and stared almost dully back into Reid's infuriated ones.

She shook her head fervently, trying to wrestle her wrists out of his hands with little success. "You have to let me go!" she yelled, panic plainly showing through as another stick cracked, closer this time. "You have to run! Get as far away from me as you can!"

Reid looked down at the girl below him in utter confusion as she shouted for him to run again. "What do you want with me!" he asked loudly, managing to overtone her own shouts. "Who are you, and how the hell do you know about Jack?"

The girl just looked at him with wide eyes, head still shaking back at forth almost violently. "You need to run, Reid! Run!"

He tightened his grip on her wrists, making her twitch in slight pain though most of her attention was focused on the forest around them. She knew they were out there, waiting for the opportune moment. She needed a distraction, something that would bide Reid enough time to escape back to the others. Maybe, if all four of them were together, he would be safe for the time being. If they stayed together, protected him like she hoped they would, he would have a fighting chance against them. But he had to go back!

"What the hell are you talking about? Run from who?" he asked, his voice lowering to a dangerous tone as his anger turned to a glare of suspicion. "Who's coming for you?" His wide eyes searched hers, trying to find an answer somewhere in the depths of them but found none.

"They aren't coming for me, you idiot! They're coming for you!" she screamed, banging her head in frustration on the ground beneath her. Did this idiot boy not understand what she was saying? Did he not get that she was trying to save him!?

Just as he was about to open his mouth to yell more questions, Reid heard a distinct crack echo through the seemingly empty forest and he felt the girl freeze beneath him. He looked up slowly, searching around the dark trees surrounding them and saw nothing. Looking back at the girl, he saw the pure and unmasked fear in her eyes as she slowly turned her head to the side. She watched as a dark shadow appeared in the distance, making their way in a fast pace towards where she had Reid were laying.

In a last attempted, Ella looked up at Reid with a pleading look, to which he frowned. "Run," she whispered, tears slowly forming in her eyes which only made the boy frown deeper. "Run."

A million things were running through Reid's head as he heard footsteps running towards them, crackling the dead growth beneath them in a way that chilled him to the bone. Something was coming, and it definitely did not sound friendly. He hesitated all of three seconds before he was on his feet, the girl's hand enclosed in his as he ran. He didn't know who this girl was, who's side she was on, of where the hell she'd come from, but he was not going to leave her to whatever was coming towards them. He may be an asshole, but he sure as hell wasn't heartless.

The second the thing following them realized they were making a break for it, it's pace increased and Reid in turn sped up, dragging behind him a frightened girl who had tears streaming down her face. The light from the street was just in sight and he was almost convinced that they would make it to safety when she went down with a scream. Reid turned quickly and stopped, shocked to see the girl no where in sight, blowing leaves where she should have been.

"Oh fuck," he whispered, going to turn around and run but stopped dead at the sight before him just as everything faded to black, a girl's scream echoing in his mind just before everything was lost.

--

Tyler Simms took a small drink of the Pepsi Reid had gotten him before disappearing nearly an hour ago. He felt horrible, acting like nothing was wrong after everything that had happened. He knew Reid hated them all for their behavior, they're apparent memory loss at what tonight was. He knew Reid thought that they didn't care, that they didn't miss her or even remember her. Taking another sip of his soda, Tyler wished more than anything he _could_ forget her face. It plagued him whenever he closed his eyes, her smiling face beaming at him through the black abyss of his mind, mocking him with the pain of her absence.

He slammed his glass onto the bar counter and turned swiftly, heading for where Pogue and Caleb sat with their respective girlfriends, silence hanging over their table. He fell into the only empty seat with a sigh and closed his eyes, trying to push Jack's face from his mind.

"Has anyone see Reid?" he asked, eyes still closed as he rubbed them tiredly with his hand, hoping it would help in ridding her face. It didn't.

Pogue and Caleb shared a silent look, noticing the tired stance of their friend and the loud absence of their other. Caleb shook his head, though Tyler couldn't see it. "Haven't seen him since we got here," he said, tightening his arm around Sarah, who shot him a sympathetic look. She knew what tonight was, what it meant to the boys and to Kate.

"He probably just went back to the dorms, man," Pogue added roughly as he stared intently at the clock on the wall. "You know how he gets, this time of year."

Everyone at the table, even Sarah, knew what Pogue meant by that statement. Everyone knew what time of year it was, what day it was, who's death they were trying to run away from. Everyone knew, but no one wanted to talk about it. It was the unspoken rule, no one spoke about Jack, ever. Even if everyone wanted to, you just didn't. There was no point in bringing up something that couldn't be fixed, couldn't be saved.

Sarah looked around the silent table helplessly, unsure what it was she could do. She didn't know Jack, and only knew what few things she had managed to learn from Kate as she cried herself to sleep the last three days. She knew how much they had loved her, how much they missed her and wanted her back. She felt to helpless, not knowing a way to help them or ease their pain.

"Let's get out of here," she announced, sending each of the group a small, comforting smile.

They all muttered their agreements and as one, stood up and headed for the door. It seemed like everyone in Nicky's stared as the Sons with Kate and Sarah made their way to the doors, each and every one of them knowing what tonight was. Every one knew who's anniversary it was, who had died, and most threw their sympathy to the group before turning back to their respective business.

Tyler called his goodnights to everyone, heading for his Hummer with depression looming over him like an angry cloud. He unlocked the doors with his fob and was about to climb in when he noticed Reid's shiny, gray Volvo still parked beside the Hummer.

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**Reviews are always niiice! ;) Madiii and Rorrry.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, you'll have a nice response shortly after this is posted. Madi is already out of town on her way to Italy, so it's just me for the night. I did a once over of it, but I apologize if there are any typos that I missed. I fly out tomorrow night for my own Euro adventure and this will be the last update we have until I come home at the end of the month. Sorry to leave you with only two chapters for two weeks, hope you'll forgive us! **

**Last night Madi wrote and posted a one-shot, **_What Sarah Said_**, that in the upcoming chapters will play a significant role. I recommend you read that sometime in the near future and hopefully soon everything will make sense. :)**

**Reviews are welcomed, and thanks again to everyone who has already.**

**Rory.**

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_**Lighthouse**_

_**two**_

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Her hands wouldn't stop their shaking. She held them out in front of her as they shook violently. It was the same every night. They almost never stopped shaking nowadays. It was like they were on a constant high from the fear surrounding her and that flowed through her veins. She didn't expect them to stop either any time soon.

Ella'd been dumped back into her holding cell rather unceremoniously an hour before, cringing as they tossed the limp form of Reid in to the cell across from her's before locking them both in for the night. Her hands had been shaking since Marcus had caught her, and they had yet to stop. She couldn't believe what she had done, what she'd given them as a weapon. She wanted to knock herself senseless on the iron bars surrounding her cell, but knew that nothing but pain would come from it. God, how could she had been so carelessly stupid. She was supposed to save him, not get him locked up beside her.

The lights shut off with a small whine and Ella let out a sigh. She was so tired of living like a caged animal, being told when to eat, when to sleep, when to do her master's bidding. She hated it, absolutely hated it. Why couldn't she have been a normal teenaged girl? Why did she have the be the freak of nature, the one who had to hide from the world in fear that someday someone would find out what she was, and then she'd find herself in a government laboratory having millions of tests drawn on her. Why was she different?

A chain dragged across the concrete floor, drawing Ella's attention to the cell to the right of her own. She could see in the small light that came in from the sky light that Ian was still awake, little surprise there. He almost never slept anymore, not that Ella blamed him. She wouldn't either, if she'd seen the things he had.

"Plan didn't go so well?" the boy asked, tone hushed to ensure none of the other cell inhabitants wouldn't awaken. It was an unwritten rule of thumb that once the lights went off, you went to sleep or suffered the ultimate consequence. And no one was above being a tattle tale and ratting someone out the next morning when they came back with breakfast. It was all about survival of the fittest, and the smartest.

Ella leaned back against her cell bars, back facing to one of her few friends. "I got him caught," she mumbled, allowing her eyes to shut in exhaustion. "Marcus got him."

"They had a fucking tizzy fit when they realized you escaped," Ian said, and she didn't need to see him to know he had a smug grin on his face. "Marcus nearly killed everyone, swearing up and down that he'd kill you the second he caught you. I don't think he took well to being outsmarted."

"It really wasn't all that hard," Ella muttered with a small sigh. "Considering my powers, you would've thought they would have more security around my cell, or at least something none electric or plastic. Honestly, they aren't that bright."

Ian let out a soft snort and nodded his head, even if she couldn't see it. "They got the kid though, huh? How'd that happen, I thought you were going to warn him."

If there was anyone in the Hole that Ella loved, Ian would be at the top of the list. They had been caught within a week of each other, each from different ends of the country. He from Maine, and she from deep in Idaho. Ian was eighteen, cynic, an all around pain in the ass, and the closet thing Ella had to an older brother. He had saved her life more than once in the past sixteen months they'd been in the Hole together, and more than once she'd had to return the favor. Out of the twenty three kids that had been there when they first arrived, Ella and Ian were the last two left. When you were stuck at the end of the world together, you learned to keep a tight grip on one another.

"The idiot followed me," she said finally, answering his hanging question. "I tried to lose him in the woods, but then I tripped and Marcus showed up."

The was a short silence before he chuckled, "You..fell? Klutz."

"It was dark out, and I had Reid following my ass like Roadrunner so I didn't really have a chance to watch where I was going!" She tried to sound offended, though in her mind she couldn't agree more with him. She really was a klutzy person, always tripping over her own feet and falling on her face. It was a miracle she hadn't tripped earlier on the concrete.

Ian let out a happy sigh and Ella could still hear the smile on his face. "So, the little guy got his ass handed to him by Marcus I'm guessing?"

"Majorly," she agreed, wincing at the memory of the short take-down. She'd been held back by some of the goons that had tagged along with Marcus on the search for her, so she'd had to watch as Marcus knocked Reid brutally out. It hadn't been a pretty sight. "He's gonna be feeling the pain tomorrow, I promise you that."

"If he doesn't already."

With a yawn, Ella agreed. She slid down the cold bars of the cell and curled up on the equally freezing concrete floor. She heard Ian mumble a soft goodnight, to which she grunted, and then she was off to a land of darkness. Silence fell over the large basement, only the soft sounds of snores and the occasional clink as a chain was moved during it's prisoners sleeping. Ian let out a snort and crossed his arms, determined not to fall asleep.

He'd been held captive in the Hole, as it's prisoners so _affectionately_ named it, for over a year. He'd seen more in the past twelve months than he ever wanted to see in his entire lifetime. He'd watched friends die, the girl he came to love have the life beat almost clean out of her soul, and had to sit by while doing nothing that could be of help. The past year had been one of hell, and one he wished with every fiber of his being could be forgotten the second he was freed. And he would be free someday, he refused to be beat into the ground by the likes of people who killed for their own self pleasure. Sick fucks.

He heard Ella, the girl in the cell next to his, shift in her sleep, mumbling something before she drifted back. He couldn't believe she was back. When she'd managed to escape the week before, Ian couldn't have been more proud and happier. Finally, someone had gotten away, someone would have a new chance at life. The fact that it was Ella only made him three times as overjoyed. She was only sixteen for god's sakes, being taken at just before fifteen, she didn't deserve to be here anymore than the rest of them did.

But she'd escaped, gotten away from the hell that had overthrown their lives and would finally be safe from _them_. God, she would be alright. She would be able to go back to her family and get them to safety, and maybe even get to his family to give word he was still alive. But, there she was not a week later, beaten and bruised again, asleep in her small five by five cell. She'd given up her freedom, her safety, her chance at living again, for him. That stupid asshole that was currently out cold in a matching cell of his own.

God, Ian hated Reid Garwin the second his name flew from Ella's mouth as she frantically tried to think of a way to save the bastard. Why did he of all people deserve to be saved from the Hole? Why did his life mean more to Ella than her own did? Why had she given everything to save him, when he was just like the rest of them. There wasn't anything different about Reid Garwin that Ian could find. He was just some rich kid with a trust fund going to private school and happened to have powers of his own. There was nothing special or great about him, yet Ella risked her life to warn him, to try and save him.

He didn't understand it, not at all.

* * *

At four twenty on the dot, the door leading into the holding room slammed open as a group of eight men walked in shouting. They racked their metal batons, which resembled police nightsticks, against the cell grates as they strode by, screaming for everyone to get up. The thirty some captives who were still half asleep in their cells, quickly rose to attention and stood stiffly at the back of their respective cells, eye downcast to the concrete slabs that served as they beds.

Reid had been awake and staring into the darkness for nearly an hour before the shouts directed his attention to the huge men entering into the room. The bright lights made him wince and his already blasting headache deepened. Along with the light came the ability to see his surroundings, which immediately made his stomach sink. Where the hell was he?

Rows and rows of metal cages lined the room, each with a young man or woman housed inside it. None of the people standing in cages looked to be in great shape, many had bruises on any visible skin and their clothes were all tattered and dirty. They all seemed to be young, no older than their early twenties but all looked scared shitless at the sight of the men roaming between the cages. He glanced at the men while slowly climbing to his feet and mirrored his fellows captives movements and stood at the back of his cage. A flash of red caught his eye, and Reid looked in shock to see the girl from the night before in the cage across the aisle from him.

She looked worse for wear, a cut above her eye still had dried blood covering it and she was holding her arm awkwardly, like it was broken. Her jeans had a new hole in the knee and he could see she'd scraped it. The black hooded sweatshirt she wore was surprisingly her own size, but had holes decorating it at the wrists. To put it shortly, the girl looked like shit. She seemed to sense Reid's gaze and her eyes briefly met his before they darted to the approaching man coming up their aisle.

By the amount of fear that Reid could feel the girl giving off, he was mildly surprised by the size of man who frightened her so easily. He was easily the smallest of the group by height, but it was apparent he was the leader, he had an air about him. He had a cocky smirk on his young face as he slowly swaggered to the girl's cage and Reid watched as she plastered herself to the bars behind her in fright.

"Fuck off, Marcus."

The steady threat come from further down the line in the cage just to the right of the girl's. A boy, who was Reid's age if not a bit older, stood with his arms above his head as he leaned against the bars of his own cell. The man standing across from Reid, who he guessed was Marcus, ignored the threat and continued staring at the now shaking girl. The rest of the room was silent, everyone in the room, guards and prisoners alike stood watching the scene unfolding before them. No one else spoke up for the frightened girl save the now angry looking boy beside her.

Marcus leaned forward with a leer on his face, resting his crossed arms against the bars of the girl's cell. "How doin' in there, Danny? I was worried about you for a while there." His tone contradicted his statement, clearly showing he could care less how this "Danny" girl was or how she felt.

"Leave her alone."

Once again the boy beside Danny came to her defense, while the girl simply stood shaking under the harsh gaze of the man before her. Marcus whipped his head and barked back at the boy. "Mind your own fucking business, Ian or it'll be you instead of her going into the tank!"

The threat held in the air for a few seconds as everyone in the room understood the full capacity of his statement. A girl gasped on the other side of the room and one of the guards banged his baton on her cell to silence her instantly. Reid watched in confusion from his cell as Marcus and Ian held one another's gaze fiercely as Ian nodded his shaggy blond head.

"Fine," he said, standing up from his pose against the cell cars and spread his arms wide. "Put me in your damned tank. Just leave Ella the fuck alone."

Reid was even further confused now. Was the girl's name Danny or Ella? And what the hell was this 'tank' they kept talking about? God, he really hated being in the fucking dark. He watched as Marcus was quiet and it seemed like everyone in the room was watching the gears moving in his head. Hell, everyone _was_ watching. It happened suddenly with only a nod of Marcus's head to initiate it.

Three of the guards appeared beside him, and by 'appear', he meant that one moment they were on the other side of the room and the next, they were hauling Ian none-too-gently from his cell. There were a few yells from throughout the room, all of which were opposing to the dragging off of Ian. Reid stood at the back of cell, watching in a mixture of anger and awe as no one, Ian included, did nothing to stop the man from being dragged off to God only knew where. He pushed himself off the bars of his cell and walked forward slowly, watching as Ian was dragged out of the huge room by his forearms, legs dragging limply behind him.

'Like fuck I'm staying here,' Reid thought to himself, hands gripping the cell bars tightly.

Just as his eyes were about to turn dark, he heard a loud shout and looked up startled to see Ella, or Danny, plastered up against her own bars closet to him. One of her hands was stretched out through the bar, reaching towards him as he looked at her in confusion. Her eyes pleaded with him as she kept her arm outstretched, not at all caring that Marcus was still a few feet away from her, his back to her. Reid stared at the girl for a few moments before he shook his head.

He would not stay in this place, he refused.

Ella watched in horror as Reid ignored her warning and his eyes warped to black and his hands gripped the bars of his cell tightly. "Reid, don't!"

At the sound of his name, Reid's eyes instantly returned to normal and he once again looked at her in pure confusion. His grip on the bars loosened as her hand held steady in the air between them. Her words from the night came back to him slowly as he stared critically at her outstretched hand.

'_Don't show them what you can do, ever. Once they know what you can do, they know how to kill you. Do not show them your power!'_

God, he was so fucking lost right now. He didn't even know where he was, who these people were, or what the hell they wanted with him. All he did know was that the girl across from him was crazy and for some reason, seemed hell-bent on keeping him alive. Or at least, that's what the case would appear to be. Why, he had no idea. He didn't know anything anymore. He didn't even know what day of the week it was. The last day he remembered was Friday, the Friday he wished would pass over him every year.

Before Reid had a chance to contemplate his current situation, a large guard came to his cell and unlocked the door using an electrical keypad beside the barred door. He stared at the man in surprise as he was beckoned out of the small cell. They were letting him go? Ducking his head as he exited the cell, he was completely unprepared for the harsh blow to back of his neck which sent him crumbling to the ground. Apparently they _weren't _letting him go.

With a smirk, Marcus walked to where the newest detainee was laying on the ground holding his smarting neck with a cringe. "Welcome to Hell, Mister Garwin. I hope you enjoy your stay here." Patting him hard on the back, he stood up straight and motioned to him with a wave of his hand. The guard who had released him grabbed him under the arm and hauled him to feet, uncaring if it caused any pain or discomfort. Marcus gave him a twister grin as Reid looked at him through half-lidded eyes. "Let's go see what the hell it is you do, huh?" He jerked his head to the door and the guard hauled away the half conscious Reid and swept him out the door.

Elle could do nothing but watch as Reid was taken away, not but a few minutes after Ian had sacrificed himself for her sake. Marcus clapped his hands in an almost joyous fashion and turned on his heel to face a stricken girl. He tilted his head to the side with a smirk as Ella slowly looked him in the eye, half full of fear. "Your turn, Scrambled Eggs."

She hated that smirk.

* * *

Tyler sat in the diner booth silently as everyone around him chattered away happily. It'd been two days, and Reid still hadn't shown up anywhere. No one had seen him, no one had heard from him, no one knew where he was. Caleb had tried to reassure him that everything was fine and that he was overreacting. It wasn't unlike Reid to disappear for a few days around this time of the year. He needed space, some time to vent and blow a few things up away from the other Sons. He needed to be alone sometimes.

Normally, Tyler would agree with Caleb no problem and not worry a minute over his best friend's random disappearance. But it bothered him that no one had seen him leaving from Nicky's on Friday night, and his precious Volvo, his Baby, was still parked in the bar's parking lot. He wasn't answering his cell phone and it went straight to voicemail with a message telling him to Fuck Off each of the thirteen times Tyler had called it. Reid never turned the damn thing off, even in class or at the movies the stupid thing was always on. Once again, Caleb just said that maybe he needed space and turned it off. But it all felt, odd.

He took a sip of his Dr. Pepper and tried to listen to the conversations he'd been tuning out earlier. Reid would show up when Reid decided to bother himself with it. Tyler just hoped he'd hurry the hell up and put his nerves to rest.

* * *

**See you guys at the end of the month.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing so far, I'd love to thank each and every one of you, but for some reason FFnet is refusing to allow me to do so. But, don't think that Madi and I don't appreciate it, because we really do. Support is everything to a starving author. :)**

**Sorry for the long wait, but I ended up getting more jet lagged than I had been expecting. Europe kicked my ass, by the way. 70 miles in 10 days, trekking across France and Spain on foot. Fun times.**

**Hope everyone enjoys the chapter, which has NOT been edited by Madi, seeing as she's still in Venice until mid August. Just little ol' Rory to fend for herself right now. When she gets back though, she'll be looking over any posted chapters and editing them for us.**

**Happy Readin'.**

**Rory.**

* * *

_**Lighthouse**_

_**three**_

* * *

Marcus led the young girl forcefully by the arm down the long corridor, a cocky smirk planted on his young face. His pace was quick, and with her shorter legs Ella was skipping to keep up with him. He couldn't believe that she was back, or more the fact that she'd been able to escape in the first place. When they'd first captured her, he'd tried to tell everyone what a stupid idea it was, keeping her locked up no extra security. She was too powerful, too smart and resourceful, and too desperate to be kept within her small given boundaries. In honesty, Marcus was truly surprised that it had taken so long for Ella to gather up the courage to leave. It wasn't like she couldn't have simply walked out the front door whenever she chose to. There wasn't a whole lot anyone, Marcus himself included, would be able to do to stop her.

Only, Ella didn't know that.

When she had first been captured, Ellla had been a frightened young fifteen year old girl who barely knew the full potential of her own powers. She'd cried nearly every night for the first few weeks, having no one to turn to except for the older boy who'd been caught along with her, Ian. Together they seemed to slowly build a resistance against the happenings of the Hole, and the people who resided inside it. After a few months of brutal lessons concerning her powers, Ella made several plans for escape, but none of them she put into action herself. Instead, she 'accidentally' leaked her plans throughout the Hole and allowed others to fail one after another while she watched on.

Many would think at first glance that Ella O'Daniel was a quiet and sincere girl who was the picture perfect daughter than any family would be honored to have. But Marcus knew better. He knew that beneath the shy exterior stood a girl willing to risk everything for her own freedom, whether it be hers or anyone else's life on the line. The fact that she'd only moments before allowed Ian, her one and only true friend in the Hell they lived in, to lay down his life rather than give up her own. Oh no, Ella O'Daniel was no angel, but more of a wolf in sheep's clothing, waiting for the next unsuspecting fool to walk right into her latest plan.

But did anyone else in the Executive believe any of the things that Marcus told them about innocent little Ella? Did anyone ever take into account that they had caged an electrically powered teenaged girl in a _metal cage_? Of course not, because Marcus was the kook of the clan, and no one had ever managed to escape through the Executive's fingers. Ella O'Daniel, no matter what her powers were, would not possibly be able to escape the Hole. Until eight days ago, when the night guards were found unconscious and the little 'light-bulb' had escaped. It had taken every ounce of Marcus' self restraint not to walk up to the big guy and scream a very loud and obnoxious "I TOLD YOU SO!", but he, unlike others, valued his life.

He knew what potential Ella's powers held, how much pain and destruction they could bring to the world. The only part was making her realize it, before the big guys upstairs decided neither he nor Ella were worth any more time or effort. As much as Marcus hated to admit it, but the girl's fate and his were one in the same. If one went down, they both did. And Marcus had no intentions of going down without a fight.

Opening up the heavy steel plated door at the end of the hall, Marcus pulled Ella in behind him before slamming the door shut. He passed off the quiet girl to one of the many men in the room and briskly strode to the center. Ella watched as he clicked a few keys on a holographic keyboard and winced at the sight behind a pair of opening doors. Of all the torture devices used in the Hole, the Tank was by far the one she hated the most. She knew that while Marcus had threatened Ian with the very same tank, which could be filled with over a hundred gallons of freezing cold water, he would find some different way of punishing him. The Tank was almost always the one thing Marcus had set aside for her, his little way of showing her who was on top and who held all the cards. He knew how much she hated the Tank, what it did to her, and he loved to exploit the fact.

To put it simply, Ella was made almost entirely out of electricity. When mixed with water, you do the math.

"Just like old times, huh El?" Marcus didn't turn around as he continued pressing keys on the board. The Tank slowly moved forward with a hiss and stood still, mocking Ella with it's empty insides with the exception of two leather straps about three feet up on either side. "Just you and me, and our favorite little toy."

Ella wanted nothing more than to electrocute the smirking man's body until his heart ceased beating and Marcus would be nothing more than a horrible memory. But the cuffs on her wrists, with their blinking red lights, and the heavy hands on both her shoulders restrained her from doing said deed. She glared at his back, mentally burning a hole in the back of his abnormally large head. "Yeah, just like old times."

* * *

He couldn't see anything as a strong hand pushed him down what seemed to be a long hallway. The moment they'd drug him out of the room filled with cages, one of the guards had thrown a sack of some sort over Reid's head and proceeded to tow him along by the shoulder. The sack was scratchy and made him want to rip his face off, but he figured that any movement other than walking in the guided direction could possibly lose him his life. He didn't still didn't know who any of these people were, or what they wanted with him. As far as Reid could tell, doing what they wanted of him was the easiest way of keeping himself alive.

A door groaned in protest as he assumed one of the guards opened it, and he was led into a smaller room by the sounds of soft voices echoing around him. One of the men pushed him down to the ground and onto his knees, none to gently. He momentarily thought of simply Using, and fixing his small problem of lack of vision, but quickly thought of what the girl had warned. If not Using would keep his ass alive long enough to make a break away, he could go a few days without it. Wasn't like not Using was a bad thing for his health..

He blinked against the harsh fluorescent lights as the sack was roughly removed and thrown to the side by one of the men. Reid squinted as the light sent shocks of pain to his brain and he shook his head hoping to clear it with little success. A harsh laugh made him look up from his lower position on the ground and saw the man from earlier, Marcus, staring down at him with a grin. Taking a few steps towards Reid, he kneeled down before him and let out a small sigh.

"Reid Garwin, your reputation proceeds you," his pale eyes bore into Reid's half dazed blue ones as he spoke. "Though, you are a tad bit of a disappointment. The guys upstairs made you seem a little bit more.. dangerous."

Marcus smirked and punched him jokingly on the shoulder, a gesture that put Reid instantly at unease. He glanced down to where the older man had hit him back to said man and gave him a wary look. The man just grinned and stood up, reaching down to brush off his clothes with the back of his hand casually.

"Now it's time to find out what the hell it is you do, Mister Garwin."

With a nod of his head as a command, the man behind Reid hoisted up the teen and pushed him forward. Reid managed to catch himself and looked back to throw the huge man a glare before continuing forward. He took the few moments of silence to take in the room he was currently locked in with half curiosity, half desperation for an exit out. There didn't seem to be much in the room at all, a wall of electrical junk to the right with a dozen or so blinking lights, a map of the world on the left wall, and a steel plated wall to the front of him. There were eight or nine men filling the small room, not including Marcus and himself. And by the look of things, backwards was the only exit out.

The man behind him stopped Reid a few feet away from the front steel plated wall and he glanced at it in confusion. To his right, Marcus was typing away on a keyboard that seemed to materialize out of thin air and resembled that of a holographic Star Trek gizmo. A few seconds later, Reid found himself back on his knees, arms locked behind him. He didn't bother struggling, it was a waste of energy in a futile battle. He listened as Marcus tapped a few last keys and watched as his feet approached him.

"What can you do, Reid?" Marcus had stopped a foot or so in front of him and was staring down at the blond teen. His voice was indifferent, if not bored. "What makes you so special?"

_Don't show them what you can do, ever._

The girl's words flooded his mind again, much like they had earlier in the morning. He still had no idea who she was, but her words had held such desperation that he couldn't help but believe in them. Whatever the hell was going on, that girl had tried to save him. The least he could do was honor her wish and hope it kept him alive.

Reid shook his head slowly, eyes to the ground. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Marcus let out a sigh and a small chuckle. "Don't lie to us Reid, it'll only make things ten times worse for you in the end. Tell me what is that you can do, and I'll let you go back to your comfy little cell all happy dandy. Sound like a plan?"

_Once they know what you can do, they know how to kill you._

"I don't know what you're talking about," he repeated, voice void of any emotion.

"You're just making this harder on yourself Reid. The sooner you tell me what your powers are, the sooner you can go home, back to Spencer. All I need to know is what makes you tick, what makes you different from everyone else in the world."

He knew about Spencer. That meant he knew where Reid lived. That meant he might know about the others, about Caleb and Pogue, about Tyler. He felt slightly sick to his stomach at the thought of Tyler being in his current position. What would they do if they found the others? What if they already had, what if they were somewhere else in this godforsaken place, having horrible things done to them? What if they were already dead, and Reid was the only one left and this man, Marcus, was only stringing him along for the thrill of it?

Oh hell, he was going to puke.

"Tell me what you do."

Reid shook his head forcefully, trying to rid his head of death filled images. "I don't _do_ anything."

"I refuse to believe that Reid," Marcus said in an almost sickly cheerful tone. "Because you wouldn't be here if you couldn't do something that made you special, unique, one of a kind. I know you do something that makes you, you. I just need to know what exactly it is that you can do."

"I don't do anything."

"Are you a Pyro? You could definitely fill that part with ease." Marcus tapped his chin and started pacing slowly across the floor, looking back to Reid every few seconds. "Rebellious, angered, full of teen angst. I could see you as a hot headed Pyro."

"I don't do anything."

He felt like a broken record. He couldn't tell them, couldn't reveal anything. He couldn't betray them, couldn't risk their lives by being reckless anymore. He would not be the reason why the three people he had left, died. He would not kill them.

"Or maybe you're a teleporter! Jumping from place to place, owning the world like it's your personal play ground."

"I don't do anything."

"You do look a bit like a shape shifter.."

A picture of a gray headstone slowly faded into Reid's mind. He tried to shake the image away as it slowly came into focus. He really almost did puke at the sight of _Tyler John Simms, Loving Son and Friend, June 14th, 1989- January 9th, 2006_. He looked to the right of Tyler's grave and instantly looked away from Caleb's matching headstone only to come face to face with Pogue's. He tore his eyes away from the graves and matching headstones, slowly backing away.

He would not kill them.

"I don't do anything!"

Reid's shout echoed through the room as the men around him stood in rigid silence. He brought his head up to glare heatedly at Marcus, who looked amused. He looked at the panting boy and shook his head, so like all the others.

"You _do_ do something, Reid. It's my job to find out what, and if you don't start to cooperate, things are going to become.. complicated," his tone had gone from bored to serious, as he gave Reid a challenging look. "I'm done playing games now. I'm not going to ask again. **What do you do?**"

Tyler's laughing face entered Reid's mind for a split second. He shook his head and met Marcus' eyes fiercely. "I don't do anything."

Letting out a heavy sigh, Marcus shook his head and tsked. "I was really hoping it wouldn't come down to this, Reid. But you've left me no choice."

Two men came up behind Reid and pulled him to his feet as Marcus nodded to another man, who set to typing away on the Star Trek board. Marcus turned towards the steel wall, glancing back only once to Reid as the boy watched on in confusion. A loud hiss echoed through the room as the steel wall started to move and he realized it wasn't a wall, but a large door than spanned the entire width of the room. He frowned at the sight of Ella, who was standing a few feet in front of him behind a large plate of glass. The frowned deepened as he noticed her arms her bound to each side of the small tank like structure she was encased in.

Marcus smiled to Ella, who simply glared to him before turning back to Reid. He clapped his hands and pointed them towards him with a small grin. "This is your last chance to tell me your powers Reid."

Reid looked between the grinning man before him and the small girl locked in the tank a few feet away. He could see her shaking her head ever so slightly at him, as if she knew exactly what was going on outside her tank. He knew what she meant by the gesture, her words from earlier still fresh in his mind. He glanced at her a second time and looked back to Marcus, a hard look planted firmly on his face.

"I don't do anything."

"Bad answer," Marcus replied, letting out almost a sorrowful sigh as he nodded to the man in front of the keyboard. The man became to type furiously on the board while Marcus walked up beside Reid, throwing an arm over the boy's shoulder. He pointed to where Ella was tugging against the restraints on her wrists and was slowly climbing her away up the side of the tank. "That girl is named Ella O'Daniel. She's been here in the Hole for over a year, and it took me three hours to break her down enough to tell me her powers. She's sixteen, going on seventeen, and has the ability to control electricity."

Finally, Reid had at least some piece of information on the girl before him.

"Now, during her time here in the Hole, we were able to evolve her powers to a much stronger stage. During this.. procedure, her body slowly consumed enough electricity that her entire body is nearly 98 pure electrical static. In other words, she's a big ball of live electricity. She's like a live power station. You follow me so far?" He glanced down to see Reid watching as Ella continued to try and break away from the restraints. "Right now she's in what we residents of the Hole like to call, The Tank. It's a tank, obviously, that can be filled with over a hundred gallons of freezing cold water."

Reid didn't need to have an A in Physics to know where all this was leading.

Marcus let out a contented sigh just as an alarm went off and a small steady stream of water started flowing into the large tank that Ella was desperately trying to escape from. "What happens when you add electricity and water, Reid?"

_Oh, fuck._

* * *

There was no way to escape the oncoming rain of ice cold water that was starting to fall from the ceiling. Every drop of water burned her skin, sending up a spark and sizzle as it landed on her exposed flesh. She didn't need to be able to hear what was going on outside The Tank to know Marcus was trying everything to get Reid to expose his powers. She was praying to God, through the pain of the water falling upon her, that the stupid idiot would listen to her earlier warnings and not risk showing Marcus his powers. The moment he did that, everything would be over.

She bit her lip from screaming as the water exposure was increased. Her hair was far passed drenched and the water was slowly making it way up to her knees. She was sure her wrists were bloody and raw from her failed attempts to escape the restraints encased around them. It wouldn't be the first time she'd managed to cause herself more pain trying to escape than the actual torture had. She closed her eyes to keep them from being blinded against the constant flashes that were shown whenever water touched her skin. The feeling in her feet was slowly leaving her, which was beginning to become a relief.

_God, it hurt._

* * *

"You aren't a bad guy Reid," Marcus ensured, tightening his grip on his shoulder as Reid made an attempt to escape towards The Tank. "This isn't your fault. Ella's had this coming ever since she ran off to save your ass. It was only a matter of time, really. None of this is your fault."

Reid wanted to punch him in the face, make him bleed and feel pain like Ella was at the exact moment. He could only imagine the amount of pain she was going through, suffering through to ensure his safety for only God knew why. Why was she doing this for him, risking her life and everything else along with it, for a person she'd never met?

He winced away from the strobe like lights coming from within The Tank, results from Ella's pain. He was such as horrible person, standing there, watching as an innocent girl was put through hell by a maniacal man. What the hell was wrong with him?

"Tell me what you do Reid, and it'll all be over. You and Ella can go back to your comfy little cages and live happily ever after. Scout's honor."

Bullshit.

Looking at the lightning filled tank, Reid really didn't care anymore. He was done with slowly killing those around him, making them suffer for his stupid actions and having to sit through the consequences. He was done.

_Once they know what you can do, they know how to kill you._

'Not like I wasn't going to die from Using anyway,' Reid thought to himself, eyes going black beneath his lids.

Within seconds, he'd flung an unsuspecting Marcus across the room, taking with him three other men. The landed heavily into the wall of blinking lights and remained motionless. Reid quickly threw the remaining men into the walls closet to them, having to throw a few more a couple times again when they refused to stay down.

Really, piece of cake.

Checking to ensure that none of the men were about to spring back into consciouness, and catch him off guard, Reid jogged up to The Tank's outer wall. He stared at it for a moment before shrugging and heaved a fist towards it. What would have normally broken a man's hand simply tingled Reid's as the glass shattered and water came spilling out of The Tank. He made it not even a full step before stopping cold and fell to the ground. His unconscious body jerked for a few seconds before lying still in the pool of water.

Unfortunately for Reid, he wasn't shock proof.

* * *

**Reviews are always more than welcome.**


	4. Chapter 4

**This chapter is about half the size of the last one, on purpose. If it doesn't make sense the first time, please feel free to email/PM/review your questions to me. Just know that it isn't supposed to quite all make sense yet. For those of you who haven't read _What Sarah Said_, you really need to for this chapter to make a little bit more sense. I wrote this while listening to _Transatlanticism by Death Cab for Cutie_ on repeat for almost an hour. I would like to apologize to those who've been waiting for three months on an update. All I have to say is that life got busy for awhile, and that I'm doing my best to try and write for you. I love getting reviews asking me to continue, it helps to know that people love what I write. I really do appreciate it. Reviews are always loved.**

**Rory Lewis the First. :)  
**

* * *

_**Lighthouse**_

_**four

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**_

_June 4th, 2005_

_Her feet pounded on the pavement loudly as her breath came in heavy spurts. She didn't dare look behind her, she knew the moment she saw her pursuer she would lose her footing and fall. She couldn't fall, she couldn't stop running. She had to keep going, she had to lose the man following behind her. She had to save Jake. She couldn't stop. Stopping meant death, she was smart enough to know that._

_She ran through the dark back alleys, knocking over anything she could get her hands on as she went. Garbage cans, empty boxes, a stack of wooden planks, all of them were sent crashing to the ground behind her. Ella could feel her lungs trying to burst out of her chest as they screamed of exhaustion but she refused to stop. She could hear the man following behind her, his feet landing heavily on the pavement a few dozen paces behind her own. She sprinted around another corner just as a shower of sparks came falling from above her, raining from the newly exploded telephone line running between the buildings around her. She ignored the overdose of power that ran through her as an aftershock and kept running. She hadn't expected the telephone line to slow her pursuer but possibly shock him in the least. Apparently, it hadn't._

_Just as she turned down another alleyway, Ella made the horrible mistake of glancing behind her for one brief second of time. Her hair whipped her in the face as she continued to run but her eyes stayed glued to the young man running behind her, intent on running her down like a dog. She turned back in time to see the pile of garbage looming before her fast moving feet but with not enough time to stop herself from crashing into them. With a scream she went down harshly onto the pavement, hearing a snap from her arm in the process as her bleary sight was filled with stars. She looked up to see the man come to a smug halt before her, a smirk on his face as he leaned down in front of her._

"_We've been looking for you a long time Danielle."_

_She didn't even have time to scream before her head exploded in pain and all the lights in the alley shattered violently, raining glass and sparks down upon them. The man laughed humorlessly and grasped her wrist tightly as Ella tried to grab at her splitting skull. _

"_You'll do just fine indeed."_

--

Ian was thrown back into his cell harshly where he stumbled to stay standing as the men behind him locked the cell door. They laughed at his current appearance and walked away, yelling at the other inmates surrounding him as they went. As the left, Ian slowly slid down the cold bars and coughed, spitting blood onto the unfeeling concrete beside him. He let out a sigh and allowed his head to rest against the cell bars, looking around him tiredly. The cell beside him was still empty, as was the one across from it. He didn't want to think of what could have happened after he got himself carted away. He didn't want to think of having to lose another friend. He'd had to watch enough kids get taken away and lost in the night. Too many kids had been forgotten down here, too many gone.

No, Ella would be fine. She always was.

--

Pain

Splitting heads

Breaking hearts

No feeling

Jack

Blackness

Screams

Nothing

Pain

Jack

Gone

Gone

**Gone**

--

All he saw was white. A white blanket over everything in front of him, blinding him to the core. He felt his hand move but he could see it in front of him. The white took away everything, hid everything away from him. Was he dead? Maybe this is what it felt like to be dead, to feel nothing at all, to be covered in light. He could feel himself moving forward through the white, forward towards something he didn't know. He felt himself being pulled forward, felt something that kept his invisible feet moving forward.

There was a speck of gray in the distance, a mar upon the white landscape. He was moving faster, running now towards the gray. He knew he was running, could feel his heart race as he sped up, but he never seemed to grow any closer to the gray. No closer to anything. He was moving without moving at all. He was locked in one place, tricked into thinking that he was moving. He didn't understand. He called out in the light, calling for help, calling for salvation.

This could not be heaven. Heaven would not lock him away and hold him against his will. Heaven would allow him to see. Jack had always said that Heaven would be her safe place once everything was over. This was no safe place, this was a place of hell. Was he in Hell? No, he couldn't be in Hell. He called out desperately to the gray, not even knowing what or who he was calling out to. He didn't care anymore, he wasn't ready to die. He wasn't ready to leave, he wasn't ready to see her again.

God, he couldn't see her, not now. He'd let her down, he couldn't face her after everything he'd done. He wouldn't. He turned and ran, ran as far way from that gray speck as he could. He wouldn't face her, not after letting her and everyone else down. He'd run forever if he had to. She deserved better.

--

Tyler awoke with yell, chest heaving as he fought to restore his breathing back to normal. The clock beside him read three eighteen as he stared in almost fear at the empty bed across the room from his own. The navy sheets were rumpled and stone cold, having not been slept in for over a week. A thin layer of dust was starting to fall on the boxes still needing to be unpacked around the room, all with the name Reid scrawled across in red marker. Tyler hadn't touched anything of his since his disappearance. Everything was waiting for him to come back.

Shaking his head, he fell back into bed and rubbed his face tiredly, it was nothing he was sure. Reid would come back eventually, everyone knew he would. He always came back, it just depended on how long he wanted to stay gone. He pulled the covers up and rolled onto his side, trying to put the pulse that had awoken him out of mind. Reid would be fine, he'd come back. He always did.

--

Everything was wet. She felt like she was in a bathtub filled with ice cold water. She clothes were soaked, even her underwear and socks were wet. Her fingers were like raisins and her hair was plastered against her face and her body was shaking. She lay in the water pool for what seemed like years before she gathered the strength and courage to move. Her leg twitched and slowly regained feeling as she forced to it work, breaking the smooth surface of the water.

She opened her eyes and looked around the room exhaustedly. She was so tired. Everything was in ruins, the Tank destroyed along with all the equipment around it. A dozen or so bodies lay littered across the room. She spotted Marcus sprawled out against the wall and Reid blond head was only a few feet away from her own. Ella slowly pushed herself up and painfully made her way over to the unconscious boy.

Her body ached all over. Nothing didn't hurt. She pushed aside the thought of pain though as she looked at the body of the older boy before her. She was surprised at how... young he looked. When she had first seen him in the parking lot of that bar, he had looked older than eighteen. His eyes then had been filled with pain and signs of knowing and seeing things a kid never should have seen. He looked old, aged, then. Now he looked so young and uncaring. He looked like he should have before.

Ella noticed the burned tips of his fingers as she checked his pulse, which almost nonexistent. She had to get him medical attention. She had to get them both out. She had to save him.

Groaning, she pushed herself up, standing unsteadily on both feet. Her legs felt like jell-o, but she put that out of mind. Right now nothing mattered but saving Reid and getting him to safety. Nothing else mattered. She knelt back down beside the boy, at least now he looked like one, and smacked him harshly across the face. There was no way in hell she was going to be able to carry his dead weight body around the Hole, none the less get him out of it.

No, Reid Garwin was going to wake up, whether he wanted to or not.

--

Ian watched along with every other captive in the Hole as the guards around the room started looking uncertain. Everyone had heard the massive explosion a few hours before, everyone knew that something was wrong. The only problem was that no one knew what exactly had happened. The guards had started more and more unsure of themselves as more time went by, having orders to stay in the holding room. A few of the other captives had gotten enough courage to talk amongst themselves as the guards remained distracted but Ian simply sat at the back of his cell and waited.

The end was coming, he could feel it.

All they needed to do was wait.

--

He finally stopped running when he could breathe anymore. The gray speck was still behind him, not any closer or farther away than it had been before he started running. He was going nowhere in this white landscape of insanity. He had decided that while running. He was going to crazy in this place. This was God's way of punishing him for being an asshole and idiot his entire life. This was His way of punishing him for letting Jack die.

He could have saved her. He could have used his powers to keep her alive, to take away the cancer in her body. He could have taken a step back and realized that Jack meant everything to him, that he should have done everything and anything to save her. He should have stopped being such a selfish asshole and done something. He should have saved her.

But he hadn't. Instead he'd sat back and allowed the one person who meant everything to him to fade away in nothing. He'd let her die. He had let his baby sister die. Somehow he had thought that it was alright to let her die. He'd let her die.

He had let her die.

He was going to spend the rest of eternity in this place, he could feel it. He was going to spend the rest of time paying for his sins. This was it, for the rest of time. This was what he deserved.

_Welcome Home, Reid Garwin._

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**Reviews are always more than welcome.**


	5. Chapter 5

**You all have my most sincere apologies for the sudden lack of updating as of late. Things in life got out of hand and I seemed to have completely forgotten about writing and those waiting for me to post chapters. So sorry, kids. For those of you who don't remember the last chapter (even I had to go back and reread it): **Reid is going crazy in the white after saving Ella from the Tank, which exploded and electrocuted both Reid and the guards around them. Ian and the others back in the cells are aware that something has happened, but not what to be exact. Marcus has also been disabled as it would seem. **That's the jist of it for the most part. Feel free to go back and read the last few chapters if you'd like. I'd very much like to have reviews on this chapter to give me a feel of whether or not I came back with the right story aura. (: I sound all deep and shit, makes me laugh. But really, I pulled this out this evening in about two hours and I didn't proof it word by word. Sorry again for the lack of updates. **

**Madi sends her sorrows as well.  
Enjoy and review, please and thank you.  
Rory Lewis.**

**

* * *

**_**Lighthouse**_

_**five

* * *

**_

Ella was going to kill Reid Garwin once he finally decided to wake up. She knew that time was running out and that if the stupid boy before her did not awaken, they were both going to die. And if he got her killed, she was going to kill him, _again_, in the afterlife. She had tried everything to wake him up. She shocked his side, lightly as not to hurt him, splashed cold water on his face, slapped him countless times, and even tried to talk him into consciousness. Nothing was working. And time was running out.

"Reid, wake up," she tried again while prodding his side. "Get off your fat ass and wake up."

She got nothing in response, not even a jerk from the shock of electricity running through his system. There had been a short amount of time after the first time she'd shocked him when she thought she'd killed him. He hadn't responded then either to the electricity and she had assumed that the small dose had killed him. However, the steady yet shallow breathing assured Ella that she hadn't.

It had been five minutes since she had woken up and found Reid unconscious on the floor. Five minutes and still no guards had come bursting through the door ready to kill them both. Ella wasn't stupid, she knew that she had only seconds left maybe a full minute, before they did come and kill her. She wasn't sure what had kept them this long, but when they saw Marcus's unmoving body along with the others, they wouldn't hesitate for an instant. She had to get moving, which meant getting Reid to move. Now.

She looked around the destroyed room for something to help her move Reid to somewhere safe. If he wasn't going to wake up, then there was no possible way she could drag his body out of the Hole alone. She needed to go for help and then she could get them all out alive. There wasn't much left in the room but in one corner there was a large amount of rubble left from what she guessed was the Tank. It was on the other side of the room, a good thirty feet away, but it was the only half good place to hide an eighteen year old passed out teen.

With a huff, Ella grabbed a hold of Reid's arm and pulled, hard. It took all of her remaining energy to pull him across the floor to the corner but somehow she managed. She shocked the wet concrete pieces into smaller bits and gently stacked them, hiding Reid from view. It wouldn't hide him from a thorough search, but anyone looking into the room wouldn't be able to see him. It was going to have to do. She had to get moving.

Six minutes and counting.

The hallway was surprisingly void of anyone as she hobbled out into it. No guards, no doctors, no nothing. Ella didn't think twice about the lack of people and bolted. She was halfway down the hall before she started blasting the video cameras hanging from the ceiling apart. Stealth was useless now since in a matter of moments, everyone would be looking for her if they weren't already. The power restricting cuffs had been removed before her dunk into the tank, a mistake on Marcus's part.

Her legs burned as she ran, reminding her how very weak she was but she ignored the pain. She had to get help. A phone, computer, Ian. Any way of communication to the outside world. She knew that Reid's friends were just like him, whatever it was that they were. She'd read his profile in the guard's room before she'd broken out the first time. She knew everything that Marcus knew about Reid. She knew about Tyler and the others. She just needed to get contact with them and plead for their help.

She needed to save Reid.

Nothing else was on her mind except saving Reid, getting him home, and running like hell to wherever was safe. Where that was exactly, Ella had no idea. She just knew that that was what she had to do. She had a promise to uphold and a person to save. She couldn't fail, not again. This had to end. Too many people had been killed, too many had been lost. Reid would not become another number on that list.

She was going to save him.

But first, she needed to get Ian out. He would know what to do, how to get out; he'd help her. He had to.

--

Everything was going to hell in the holding room and it amused Ian to no end. Kids were yelling and screaming and banging against their cell bars, creating havoc inside their cells. Everyone felt the change in the air, something was different. The guards had no idea what the hell they were supposed to be doing. Everyone had heard the explosion, everyone knew that something big had happened. The only problem was that no one, guards or prisoners, knew _what_ had happened. No one knew if it was a technical problem or if someone was trying to escape again. No one knew about causalities or deaths, or anything. No one knew anything. No one could do anything but wait.

Ian was sitting against his cell wall when it happened. It was probably the proudest moment in his entire life, watching his little Ella burst through the locked door and start blowing guards to pieces. Everyone in the room seemed to stand in shock for a moment as they realized that the huge 'something' that had happened, hadn't been a good thing. Guards flew to life, pulling their tranq guns out and attempted to stop a rampageous Ella. She would have none of it.

Sparks flew as guards were thrown against walls, cell doors, up to the ceiling, out the door. The poor bastards didn't stand a chance against the small girl. Ian couldn't have been more proud of her. In a matter of seconds, the guards were down and the air was charged with electricity. The hair on his arms stood up and he could feel his skin tingling, as could everyone in the room. It was silent as Ella walked down the row of cells, sparks flying as the cell doors burst open as she passed by. She stopped in front of his cell with a smile and cast a hand at his door which caused it to fly open.

For a few moments, no one moved. No one wanted to dare believe what had just happened. In a matter of seconds, they had been set free. Free. It was a feeling no one in any of the cells had felt in months, if not _years_. Suddenly, they weren't confined to a five by five concrete slab with bars on every side. Suddenly, they could use their powers. They could do whatever the hell they wanted to do, because they were.. free.

There was silence through the room.

And then, simultaneously, everyone moved.

--

Taking down an entire holding room filled with guards turned out to be easier than Ella could have expected. It also drained all of her remaining energy faster than she predicted. By the time she reached Ian's cell, her feet were dragging and it was painful to raise her arm another time to unlock his door. She smiled despite the pain and exhaustion, thinking of nothing but getting back to Reid and getting him to safety. Nothing else mattered but that.

When Ian pulled her into a tight hug and lifted her off the ground, laughing, she forgot all the pain coursing through her body and sagged against him happily. Saving Reid flew from her mind, as did everything else in the world. Her mission to save the blond boy she'd met only once was gone, Marcus was gone, her pain and suffering, gone. One hug, one dose of happiness, and it was gone.

This was the first time they'd had physical contact with the exception of the occasional comforting hand hold during the night. It felt.. nice, she noted. He was felt strong, like she knew he would be, and safe. He felt like a safety blanket engulfing her entire body and acting as a wall against all the bad things beyond them. She felt safe with him and that was a feeling she had long forgotten. His laughter was an entirely different sound than his normal cynical voice and it made her skin crawl delightfully. It rang like a bell and bounced happily in her ear drums.

She wrapped her arms tightly around Ian's neck and pushed herself as physically close to him as she could. She felt safe, and warm, and happy. Three things she thought would be impossible to feel again. She didn't ever want to let go of him.

"I'm so fucking proud of you, Els," he whispered, still hugging her close. His smile could be heard through his words and it warmed Ella to the core. "You kicked so much ass in here, I couldn't have done it better myself. You're forever my hero, no lie."

Ella just nodded her head against his chest in agreement, feet just barely touching the ground. Their fellow captives could be heard wreaking havoc on the rest of the Hole, many explosions and yells coming from down the hall. She finally pulled herself away from Ian and took a deep intake of air, going light headed from his smell. They stood, her hands on his arms, standing with only a few inches between them, for a few quite moments before she shook her head.

"We have to go," she muttered, taking a step away from him and grabbing his hand. She started towards the door, dully pulling him behind her. "We need to contact Tyler and the other two. Need them to come get Reid."

Ian took note of her soft voice, the limp hold she had on his hand, and the shuffle in her step. He had almost noticed her wet hair and damp clothes as he held her. He had no inkling as to what had happened in the hours they had been apart and he wasn't going to ask her to explain. He just shook his head and followed the small girl out of the holding room, mind set on protecting her until they got out of the hell hole they were stuck in.

"The kid is still alive, then?" he asked as they walked quickly down the decimated hall way, side stepping debris.

"Yeah," she answered, turning down another hall. She explained quickly what she pieced together had happened while she was out in the Tank. "He's out cold though and I couldn't wake him up."

He frowned. "You shock him?"

"A couple times, got nothing out of him," she said, nodding. "I figured that if we call Tyler, he could think of something. Maybe this isn't even about the water from the Tank."

"Worth a shot," Ian agreed.

The two entered into a room that was void of guards, all of whom were probably out trying to recapture the escaped kids running around the Hole. The room was an abandoned guard room from the looks of it, but all Ella cared about was the phone and computer in the corner. She didn't have a number or an address, or even a last name for this Tyler kid, but that's why she had Ian. Smart Ian and his kick ass powers, she'd be a goner without him.

"So, all I have is a name," she said while sitting down at the computer. "Just a first name that I found in Reid's profile.." She stared up Ian, waiting for him to get the hint.

A few moments of her staring at an oblivious Ian caught his attention and he jumped. "Oh! You want me to work some magic for you?"

She smiled. "It would be appreciated."

Ian smirked and gestured for her to move out of the seat in front of the computer. He cracked his knuckles and placed his hand above the keyboard, palm barely touching the surface of it. His irises went white and Ella had to take a step back in shock at the sight of them. She had only been told of Ian's powers, never actually having seen them in action. He had the ability to screw with any thing electrical. It wasn't anything like Ella's powers, which enabled her to control and siphon electrical currents. Ian was simply able to catch rides on the currents and search whatever was connected to them.

It worked well as replacement to hacking, he'd told her. It never left a trail to be followed like normal hacking did and everything he found was instantly downloaded not to a server that could also be hacked, but to his brain. He managed to get thousands of dollars dropped into his bank account before Marcus and his team caught scent of him and hauled him into the Hole. As far as Ian knew too, the money was waiting for him to get out.

Within a few moments, he had Tyler's number, address, and practically his entire life story including Social Security number memorized. He recited the cell number to Ella who was ready and waiting with the phone. She attempted to slow her racing heart as the phone rang and rang.

He had to pick up. He had to come. He had to help.

She didn't know what else there was she could do to save Reid.

--

It was past midnight. It was past two o'clock in the morning. It was three in the fucking morning and Tyler's phone would _not_ shut the hell up. It had long since vibrated off the table and was now having a party on his hard wood flooring. With a number of curses, he threw himself off the bed and used to land softly. The phone, now within his reach, continued to buzz annoyingly at him, mocking the fact that it had woken him up. He glanced blearily at the caller ID and didn't recognize the number. He was going to kill the bastard at the other end of the line if it was a wrong number.

"What the hell do you want?" he asked, attempting to sound angry but sounding more tired than anything. There was clouded silence from the other end and he was slowly growing more pissed. "Hello?"

"Is this Tyler?"

It was a sad and almost pathetic sounding girl. He didn't know the voice at all, it wasn't Sarah or Kate and he didn't really hang around many other girls besides them. He growled and rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hand, still lying on the cold hard wood flooring.

"Yeah, this is Tyler. Who is this?"

There was a loud sigh of relief and mumbling from the other phone before they answered. "Oh, thank god. I thought Ian got the wrong number for a second. And who I am really doesn't matter. All that matters is that I'm talking to you and that you need to listen to me, because I can help you. Or rather, you can help me."

The girl was rambling and giving Tyler a head ache. "Sorry, but what is that you wanted?" he asked, completely cutting off the girl's small voice.

"I want you to save Reid."

Tyler was never more awake in his life once the words entered his ear.

--

Five minutes and thirty seconds later, Tyler was banging furiously on Caleb's front door. He had broken so many Covenant rules in stopping time momentarily to get dressed and fully grasp what the girl on the phone had told him. None of it made much sense, but he didn't care. If what the girl had told him was correct, Reid was about to die and he had to save his ass before he did. He had already lost one half of the Garwin siblings, he was not about to lose another when this time, he had a chance to save them.

The front porch lit up as Caleb tiredly unlocked his front door and cracked it open. "Tyler? What the hell are you doing here? It's three in the morning, man."

"I know where Reid is," Tyler said, not even bothering to wait until the older boy was fully awake. "He's in some fucked up government testing facility in Rhode Island and we need to go save him."

Caleb stared at him, mouth open, hand in mid air to open the door fully. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

An aggravated sigh escaped Tyler and he bounced from one leg to the other. "We don't have _time_ for this, Caleb. Get dressed, I already called Pogue. He's on his way over now. The girl on the phone said Reid had been out cold for almost a half hour and that everything was going to hell. We don't have time."

If it weren't for the look of complete and utter terror on Tyler's face, Caleb would have burst out laughing at the story coming from his friend's mouth. But Tyler wasn't laughing, Tyler was almost in tears and his shirt was on backwards. This wasn't some fucked up practical joke. This was serious and Reid was apparently in danger. Now wasn't the time to screw around.

"I'll be ready in five minutes," Caleb said before turning and bolting up to his room, leaving Tyler to wait on his front porch, his conversation from earlier replaying in his mind.

"_You don't have much time, Tyler. He'll die if you and the others don't come. Please, I have to save him. Help me, Tyler. Please."_

Tyler wasn't stupid. Time was running out. And he refused to let his best friend die.

--

The white, it wouldn't leave him alone. He had tried to run from it, he'd tried to hide from it, he'd tried to lose himself in it, but he couldn't. It was everywhere, everywhere. He could do nothing but sit in the middle of it and wait, and wait, and wait. He couldn't leave it, he couldn't leave it behind him. It wouldn't go away. He was stuck and he wasn't about to leave it.

For the first time in his life, Reid Garwin needed his life to be saved.

_The white, it wouldn't leave him alone._

_

* * *

_

**Once again, so sorry for the long wait.  
Reviews are very much appreciated.**


	6. Chapter 6

**So, sometimes I'm a nice author and update twice in the same week. Figured I owed all you faithful readers after being a bitch to you and no updating for a few months. See? I'm not a completely horrible person. I wrote this while listening to **_A Comet Appears_ **by** _The Shins_ **which is a super sad song that I recommend everyone go listen to this very instant. Also, it's very helpful for this chapter if you stop and go read _What Sarah Said_. Even if you've already read it, reread it. It will be very helpful to you since this chapter focuses a lot on Reid and Jack. There isn't any Ella or Ian this time, but lots of the original Covenant characters. Hope this makes up for my lack up updating. This sucker is the longest by almost a full thousand words. Be happy readers. **

**Reviews always make my day.**  
**Rory Lewis.**

**

* * *

_Lighthouse_**

**_six_**

* * *

Memories from their childhood were always close at hand. They were the memories that Tyler would spend hours trying to scour from his brain just to give him a little peace of mind. But never had he been able to completely rid her face from his mind or the memories they had made together.

All the days spent with Reid and Jack exploring the woods behind their house, hours battling each other on the Playstation and fighting over who got the last fresh baked cookie that Mrs. Garwin always seemed to have for them. They never really left him. Memories of before it all happened, before things got bad. Memories of before Jack got sick, before everyone had to grow up in three seconds flat. They were all too young, they were all too unaware of what loss truly felt like. But apparently age and childish privileges meant nothing to the cancer cells that had been forming inside Jack's small brain. Nothing mattered to them, not her will to live nor the fact that she was one of the most undeserving people to die and too young at that.

The day that they found out would forever be burned into his mind, there to haunt and remind him for all time. Reid's parents had taken Jack in to the doctor's after she kept complaining of headaches for a couple weeks and after a quick CAT scan, they'd over nine small, quarter sized tumors. She was fourteen years old.

Not old enough to drive, to drink beer, to even vote. She was the baby of the families, the only girl and the only one who couldn't fend for herself. She was the one that he, Reid, and the others were supposed to be able to protect because there was no one else who could.

--

"_Now, you're sure that Malcolm can give you a ride home tonight?"_

_Tyler rolled his eyes and nodded his head while climbing out of his mother's SUV. They went over this every time he went to the Garwin's, ever since he was a kid and it was always the same answer. "Yeah, Mr. Garwin said it would be no problem. I'll be home around nine."_

_Mrs. Simms nodded in agreement and gave her son a smile. "Call if you need anything, dear. Have a fun time. Stay out of trouble!"_

"_I got it, Mom," Tyler said with a wave as he closed the car door. He heard his Mom pull out of the circular drive way that lead to the Garwin's large mansion._

_He'd never seen a house that big before being forced on a 'play date' with Reid back in first grade. Their mothers had been long time friends and had finally decided it was time for the next generation of Garwins and Simms to meet. To say the least, neither Tyler nor Reid were excited to be paired up on a 'play date'. However, after learning that both boys hated eating their broccoli and realizing they both loved hot wheels, all was well between the two and the stature of 'best friends' was instated. Of course, after learning that her older brother had a new friend, Jack instantly wormed her way into their little group and made their 'Dynamic Duo' into the 'Terrible Trio'. Within a few weeks, they were inseparable._

_That was over nine years ago._

_Not bothering to ring the doorbell, Tyler let himself into the huge house and took off his shoes. The place was surprisingly quiet as he threw his sneakers by the hall closet. He called out uncertainly while walking through the kitchen, a buzz sounding through the floor. He plodded down the stairs to the basement where both Reid and Jack's rooms were along with the big screen television and video games. Both bedroom doors were closed while the television held still held a frozen picture from the movie they'd been watching the night before. Tyler frowned at it before going over to the door with a large 'R' nailed to the top. He debated knocking before just going in, bracing himself for whatever mood Reid happened to be in that day._

_A _New Found Glory _was blasting over the expensive sound system in the corner of the large room, half covered in dirty clothes, books and random items covered the rest. Reid had never really been one for cleaning up after himself, or rather caring enough to do it. The blond boy himself was sitting on his bed, eyes closed with an open Algebra II book sitting beside him. Tyler rolled his eyes and flickered them towards the stereo, which instantly went silent. Reid jerked awake in surprise and knocked the math book to the ground. He looked groggily around the room for a few seconds before registering the smiling boy standing in his doorway and frowned._

"_How did you get in my house?"_

"_Door was unlocked," Tyler replied, falling to a sagging bean bag chair on the floor. He kicked a few articles of clothing away with his feet and settled in comfortably. "Where is everyone?"_

_Reid rubbed his eyes and fell back onto his bed with a sigh. "Jay had her doctor's appointment today at twelve, Mom just called like ten minutes ago and said they were on their way home. She said they had 'something important to discus with us'."_

_Tyler frowned. "Good or bad?"_

"_No clue. But they should be home soon. I think I heard Jay say something about ice cream from the back. Can't be that bad when there's ice cream involved," Reid reasoned._

"_This is true," Tyler said with a laugh._

_A little bit later the two teens were sitting in front of the huge flat screen television battling against each other on the Playstation. Tyler was getting his butt kicked while Reid cackled in victory. It always turned out like this, somehow even without Using, Reid always beat him. Someday he'd be able to beat him. Someday. After dying three more times within a minute of each other, he finally threw down his remote in defeat._

"_I give up, you win. Again."_

"_Awe, c'mon Baby Boy, don't be a sore loser! Come back and fight like a man! Use your balls!" Reid's teasing voice followed him as he stood up and walked up the stairs for a snack. _

_The cheesy theme song on the television stopped as the game they'd been playing was paused and Reid followed his friend on the stairs two at a time. He accepted the can of soda that was thrown at his head and cracked it open. The two stood in silence for a few minutes while they drank the cold carbonated drinks._

"_You gonna ask Mallory to the Spring Fling on Monday?" Tyler finally asked, bringing himself out of his trivial thoughts. He smirked at the almost instant pink tinge that came to his blond haired friend. Reid shrugged in return, taking the moment to chug a huge gulp of his soda down. "C'mon Garwin, be a man! Grow some balls!" he teased, reaching over to punch his friend's shoulder jokingly._

_Reid leaned away and shook his head, letting out a low laugh, pink cheeks still present. "I got balls Baby Boy, unlike you. I'm just being cautious of who gets to use 'em other than me, myself, and I."_

"_Dude, TMI."_

"_I'm just saying! I don't want some weird disease from no girls," Reid said, taking another casual sip of his soda. "You never know these days what some girls are carrying."_

"_You put way to much thought into this, Reid," Tyler shook his head unbelievingly. "Just go get laid already."_

"_Don't rush me," Reid said, seriousness lacing his tone as he gave his younger friend a look. "I'm waiting for the right girl. Just because you've got Alice and Pogue has Kate doesn't mean that I'll be able to find someone like them right now. I've got time; I don't see the point in getting laid at sixteen. We've got our whole lives to get laid, why bother with it when there's other shit to be done?"_

_Tyler stared at him for a moment with a dull face, having heard the 'No Sex' speech more than once before and padded his heart mockingly. "Such wisdom, Reid. Honest, I feel tears of pride coming on. I might need to steal a box of Kleenex from your mom."_

_A grimace of horror came over Reid's face. "Hey, don't be thinking dirty things about my mom, Baby Boy. She's practically your mom too."_

"_I like to think of her as a really hot step-mom actu-" Tyler had to duck for cover as a pen came flying at his head. He laughed and stood back up, hands in the air as a sign of surrender. "Sorry, no hot mamas for Tyler today, pinkie promise."_

"_Good. Next time I'll have to whoop your sorry ass."_

_As Tyler opened his mouth to respond, the front door opened and the voices of Garwin parents came flowing in. Reid frowned at the soft tones of their speech and set down his soda can as they entered the kitchen in an almost solemn fashion. He glanced at them before looking behind them for his little sister, having not seen her come in the door with them. His mother said a small hello to Tyler who responded in confusion, noticing the red around her eyes and the dull look on Malcolm Garwin's face. The two boys exchanged worried glances._

"_What's wrong?" Reid asked, a serious look upon his face as he stared back into the calm eyes of his father. "Where's Jay?"_

_The elder Garwin's exchanged glances of their own before Reid's father said anything. He rub a hand over his face and motioned to the large kitchen table. "I think you boys should take a seat."_

--

As Tyler learned of Jay's cancerous tumor, her bleak outlook, and the little hope for a good outcome, all he could think of was how selfish he had been only moments before. All he'd been caring about had been getting laid and pressuring his best friend into doing the same. He hadn't been worrying about Jack or how her appointment had gone or maybe that something could have been wrong. He hadn't taken even a few seconds to think of her, one of his best friends, in the time that she needed him to the most. He knew that whatever he'd been feeling inside was nothing compared to the guilt Reid had felt after learning of his baby sister's condition.

He'd wasted no time going to her where she'd been hiding, the tree house fort the three of them had built years before. Together they'd sat and talked and hoped. It'd been the last time the two of them, brother and sister, had in peace before Jack's treatment had started the next morning. It was the last memory that Reid had of his Jay when she wasn't strapped to a machine with tubes running in and out of her, a time without a doctor hovering over her or a time when she wasn't smiling. It was there last time together and as they did so Tyler had been able to do nothing more than sit on the back porch and watch from afar. He felt no rights to breaking their last moments together, especially when they all knew that it was in fact the last time.

Two years later, he didn't regret his decision to miss seeing her smile, truly smile, for the last time. If anything, that small bit of happiness was reserved for the one person who would truly cherish it forever, Reid. Some things were made for best friends, and some for brothers and sisters. A single last smile was for a brother who knew that watching his sister die would be the single most devastating thing that would ever happen to him. He deserved it, he had every right to have it.

He needed it.

Everything that made Reid, Reid, died right alongside Jack. Every bit of sanity went with her; everything that had ever made him worth something was gone. He took everything that reminded himself of her and got rid of it after her death. Anything that he could look at and see Jack staring back at him, was thrown out. The tree house was taken down, everything in her room put into storage. Her games were given to the Salvation Army, her clothes given away, and her books donated. Everything that was Jack's was erased from the Garwin household. Jacquelyn Marie Garwin no longer existed. She was gone.

And Reid wasn't far behind her. He took himself and flipped a 180 overnight, becoming the kind of person that Jack would have hated. A womanizer, asshole, and cocky bastard all rolled into one. He dreams of finding the perfect girl were gone as were all his standards. For a long while, Tyler and the others thought that Reid would get lost within himself and slowly, they'd lose him as well. The night that Jack died, Malcolm and Lillian Garwin lost not only their only daughter, but their son along with her.

Reid Garwin was dead inside, and everyone knew. But it was only a matter of time before he finally found the courage to do anything about it.

--

The Hummer was silent. Tyler was driving, Caleb was in the front seat, and Pogue was stretched across the back seat. He wasn't asleep or anywhere near dozing off. No, his eyes were glued to the ceiling of the SUV as he tried to think of anything but what was happening. He didn't have to look at the front seats to know that Tyler and Caleb were doing the same thing. No one wanted to think about what was happening or what could happen if they were too late. They couldn't be too late, not again.

"How much farther?" Pogue asked.

He didn't ask to be annoying or to sound bored with the ride. He asked so he knew how much time he had to prepare himself for whatever was going to happen. He knew that no matter how big of a pep talk he gave himself, or how much he tried to prepare with the possibility that maybe, they would be too late, it wouldn't make one ounce of difference when they got to wherever they were going. Nothing could have prepared him for this night. Nothing at all.

When Reid had left that night, it hadn't surprised Pogue in the least. He'd left every year on the same night ever since it had happened and no one could blame him. But Pogue blamed himself for letting him go alone Reid had been living a dead life for years and slowly, they had all come to accept it. He should have been there, given his support, ensured his friend, his brother, that he was never alone. They should have all been there for Reid when he needed them. They should have seen this coming. Maybe not the Government conspiracy part, but the part where Reid finally broke... That, they should have seen and prevented. They should have all been there to help piece himself back together. Pogue blinked and continued to burn holes in the ceiling with his gaze. He was tempted to burn real holes by Using but figured that both Tyler and Caleb would be upset for different reasons. Instead, he pretended much like Reid had been pretending for years and continued to stare.

Tyler sighed and tapped anxiously on the steering wheel, not bothering at all to abide by the rules of the road. Anything to get himself to Reid as fast as possible. "We're almost there. Only a couple more miles," he said, answering Pogue.

In honesty, he had no idea how many miles until they reached their destination. He didn't even know where they were or where they were supposed to go. All he knew was that he was supposed to drive on this road until it ended and from there, the girl had told them to find their own way. He wanted to puke, he wanted to throw things, he wanted to kill the girl who had called him for throwing this into his lap and expecting him to be strong enough to deal with it. He hated himself for waiting this long to be a proper friend. He hated so much right now, it took all his self control not to set the forest on fire around them. Instead, he griped the steering wheel tighter and sped up, pushing 90.

The change in speed went unnoticed by Pogue, but Caleb was instantly aware when the Hummer cruised along at a faster pace. He didn't say anything. His mind was blank except for Reid and everything he should have done. Everything he was sorry for not doing and everything he was sorry _for_ doing. All those times when he had reamed on Reid, acting like his father and busting his ass for Using too much. What if Reid could never Use again after he got out? What if the people in that place took everything from Reid? What if they took Reid from everything?

There were too many what-ifs that Caleb was terrified to speak out loud. Too many truths that he didn't want to come to terms with. He had only been trying to protect Reid; to keep him from killing himself like Caleb's father had. He had been doing what he thought was right and what would keep them all alive. He was only doing what he had been taught to do. Keep the Code of Silence, keep the brothers alive, keep the power alive. No one had ever told him the proper way to keep the rules intact so he had done what he thought was right. He had only ever tried to do the right thing. Did Reid know that? Did he understand that Caleb had never known what else to do?

Caleb shook his head and looked out the window into the dark forest they were passing, hoping to whatever God was listening that Reid did understand.

No one said anything the rest of the trip. No one mentioned that the directions Tyler had been given by the mysterious girl on the phone had taken them to the middle of nowhere. There was nothing but forest on either side of them and a road to follow. No one mentioned that this could have been an elaborate Wild Goose Chase that someone had sent them on. Instead, they sat in silence and waited for the road to end.

--

Reid was done with sitting in the white. He was done waiting for it to go away, for it to let him go. He was going to get out if it killed him.

He started by walking. He walked towards that gray speck in the distance and did not plan to stop walking until he reached it. He walked and walked and walked. He didn't know how long he walked, the amount of distance he covered, or how far he was to reaching the gray speck, but he kept walking. He fell into a rhythm after a while. Right, left, breathe in, breathe out. Right, left, breathe in, breathe out.

He didn't think of anything except reaching the gray speck and getting out. He didn't think about what would be waiting for him when he got out or if there would be anyone waiting for him. He just kept his eyes on the prize and walked for his life. It took him a while before he noticed that the gray speck looked bigger than it had before he started walking towards it. For the first time since he'd been swallowed by white, Reid felt a spark of hope. He was getting somewhere; he was moving.

His pace quickened. Right, left, breathe in, breathe out. Faster. Right,left,breathe in,breathe out. He was jogging now, rhythm still steady. His heart was pounding faster as he continued to gain speed. Faster, still. Soon, Reid was running at a full sprint towards the growing gray speck. Rightleftinout. The faster he ran, the faster he would be out of the white and back home. He wanted out, and nothing was going to keep him from going there.

He was running and then suddenly, the gray speck wasn't just a gray speck anymore. He was running, and then he wanted to stop. He wanted to stop and fall and leave the once gray speck alone. He wanted to fall to the ground and sob. He wanted to turn and run. He wanted to do anything that keep running like his legs were making him do. Now it wasn't just a gray speck; it was her. And he couldn't stop himself from running to her.

Jack had her back to him, and for that Reid was thankful. He didn't want to see her face anymore than he wanted to keep running to her. But his luck ran out as he was a couple dozen feet behind her and his footsteps reached her ears. She turned and faced him, emotion gone from her frozen face. This time, Reid was able to stop himself. His body froze and they stood, brother and sister, twenty feet from one another, neither moving towards the other.

He wanted to cry at the sight of her. She was exactly as he had last seen her. The hospital gown, which had given her the appearance of a gray speck from a large distance away, hung from her small body and her skinny arms were pale. Her blond hair was limp and long around her face and her blue eyes stared at him dully. She hadn't changed one bit in the two years since he had seen her. And Reid wished to God that she had.

Memories of hospital stays, the constant stream of doctor's appointments, the lack of childish fun and good times stretched with time in between, the days leading up to when he finally lost her. It all came to him in a flood upon seeing her. He wanted to cry and break down. He wanted to turn and run. He wanted so many things but right then, none of that mattered. Most of all, he wanted to hug his younger sister and tell her how much he loved her and missed her.

So he did.

The distance between them disappeared as Reid bolted to her and didn't wait for her reaction before he pulled her against him tightly. It seemed that he had shocked them both as she delayed in hugging him back. The small pressure of her skinny arms hugging his waist reminded Reid how much he missed her and his grip on her tightened. He didn't care at that moment that she was dead, that he didn't know where he was, or even if he was going crazy. All he cared about Jack and the fact that she was back where she belonged, with him.

Jack was the first to pull away, much to her brother's displeasure. She didn't completely leave his embrace but she pulled back to look him in the eyes. There was an air of annoyance in her gaze that confused him.

"What?" he asked. His question echoed through the white, bouncing off invisible walls and throwing his word back at him harshly.

"You keep calling me back," she said simply.

Reid gave her a confused look. "What do you mean?"

She shrugged back and her hair shifted, the only movement in the white. "I'll be upstairs having a nice conversation with my friends or doing something and then all of sudden, I'm pulled down to you. You keep calling me, and it's getting rather annoying."

He balked. "Annoying?"

Jack nodded her head and sighed. "It's been two years, Big Brother. Let me go already. Every time you think about me and wish that I were there with you, I get pulled down to make sure you're okay. And it's gotten annoying after a few years, if you know what I mean, which you do because you're the one who won't stop thinking about me. I do have a life, you know."

Reid was in shock. He didn't know how to answer to that. He didn't even seem to remember how to speak, form full words and sentences. His little sister smiled at him and reached a hand up to tweak his nose. He frowned and grabbed her hand with lightning fast reflexes, which just made her giggle. The pale color of her face had disappeared the moment she had smiled and for a moment, she was thirteen again. She was the Jack who wasn't sick and wasn't dying. Suddenly, she was happy.

She was happy and that was all that he had ever wanted for her. She was happy and it wasn't because he spent his nights getting drunk and hitting on women, she wasn't happy because he was slowly killing himself by the constant Using, she wasn't happy at all because of him. She was happy, because she was free. She didn't need him anymore. His little sister didn't need him to make her happy. In fact, he was annoying her with his constant thoughts of her.

Reid didn't know whether or not to be pissed or relieved. He decided to think on it later. He sighed and looked at her, staring into her eyes long and hard. "So, you're doing alright up there, kid?"

She smiled at his question and nodded her head excitedly. "It really isn't that bad, Reid. Everyone talks about how it's scary to die because you don't know what to expect, but it really isn't that different from living. You're just.. not living anymore."

He grimaced at her words, once again reminded that Jack really wasn't there with him. Her smile softened and she hugged him again. "I'm fine, Reid. Pinkie promise that I'm fine. You can let me go now."

He hugged her to him and buried his head in her hair. "What if I don't want to?"

Jack sighed and shook her head. "Then you're stuck in here forever."

That made him still instantly. He had to get out of the white, he had to get back to the others, he had to get back to thank Ella for saving him. He couldn't stay here. But he couldn't let her go, he couldn't let his baby sister leave when he had her in his arms for the first time in years.

"You don't have a choice," she whispered, seeming to have read his mind. "You have to let me go."

He closed his eyes and tightened his already death like grip on his sister. He held her close as he nodded his head and agreed. He saved to memory the feeling of what hugging her felt like, where her head reached on his chest, how her skinny arms felt around his waist and how her head tucked perfectly beneath his chin. He committed it to memory and whispered a soft 'I love you' as he saw from behind his eye lids that the white was gone.

The weight was lifted off his waist and his arms were suddenly holding nothing but air. He waited a moment, took a deep breath, and opened his eyes.

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